School's in session

Thu, Jul 24, 2008    to del.icio.us

Ken Kuzma lives in Grand Haven, but even after years of fishing area waters, the avid angler has always spent his time on Lake Michigan, virtually ignoring the Grand River and the ample opportunities the vast, slow-moving water presents to fishermen.

That all changed after spending the past several days under the tutelage of three of the nation's top walleye anglers.

"I was never too keen on fishing the river because of the depth and the current," Kuzma said. "But I learned some techniques this week that I can put to use.

"I usually fish in Lake Michigan for salmon, steelhead and trout. It's tough to be proficient in several different types of fishing, but now I have all the right tools and the knowledge to go out here every week or two and give it a try.

"Now I have the confidence."

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It's that confidence that Mark Martin, a local boy turned walleye fishing icon, helped instill in 14 participants in this week's Open Water Vacation Walley School, the first of its kind, according to participants and instructors.

Martin grew up in Spring Lake, attended Jeffers Elementary School as a young boy, and graduated from Spring Lake High School in 1975.

"And I fished every day," he said.

Some things don't change. You can still find Martin on the water most days, although these days, the stakes are significantly higher. With more than $400,000 in career winnings on various professional tours, Martin is one of the top walleye anglers in the country.

Now he's eager to give back some of the knowledge he's gathered in his 27 years of professional fishing, and the beneficiaries of that knowledge were the participants in Martin's walleye school, which was based out of the Grand River and Spring Lake.

Martin, who now lives in Twin Lake, was joined by fellow professional walleye anglers Mark Brumbaugh of Arcanum, Ohio, and Mike Gofron of Antioch, Ill., for the three-day coaching session, which took place Monday through Wednesday.

"I've fished all my life, and between me, Mike and Mark, we have over 100 years of hard-core walleye experience," Martin said. "We've fished with the best and against the best. We wanted to give back, and we had a real well-rounded group."

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Students from all over the Midwest flocked to West Michigan from the school. They came from Wisconsin, Illinois, Detroit and Lansing. Kuzma and Tom Wilson are both local anglers who took advantage of the opportunity to sharpen their skills at the hands of a few elite walleye anglers.

Wilson was sold after Gofron helped him boat his first legal walleye.

"I fish whenever I can, on the big lake or I come down here," Wilson said from the boat launch on Petty's Bayou Wednesday afternoon. "Yesterday I caught my first-ever legal walleye. Mike comes in my boat, we go over a few things, and on my first cast, I caught a catfish. I didn't get anything the second cast, but my third cast, I caught a walleye."

The excitement was apparent on the faces of each of the students in the three-day class. They each made a fairly significant investment to participate as cost of the venture was $1,000 per person. That fee included three nights' stay at the Grand Haven Days Inn motel, meals, and a wealth of equipment.

In addition, the students learned first-hand how top walleye anglers put more fish in the boat than their amateur counterparts.

"We're coaching them like they were on the basketball courts. We wouldn't just go out and started shooting baskets," Martin said. "We were right there fishing in their boats, taking their hand and showing them how to feel when the lure touches the bottom."

During the opening two days of class, students fished out of their own boats. They hit the Grand Monday, then fished Spring Lake Tuesday while the pros buzzed back and forth, climbing on each students' boat in turn to go over everything from fine-tuning a GPS to pitching jigs in shallow water.

"A lot of people buy boats, buy all this equipment, and they don't know how to use it," Brumbaugh said. "So we fished in their boats and showed them how to use all their equipment. Boat control is probably the biggest thing in walleye fishing, so we get in the boats and show them how to use their trolling motors and their electronics properly, their fish finders, how to use their graphs."

"He started doing things to my Lowrance that I never knew it could do," Wilson said with a laugh.

In addition, the pros taught the amateurs the best way to rig their rods for different presentations.

On Wednesday, the students split up and fished out of the pros' boats. Each student had an hour at the helm and could choose any method he or she wanted. The pros on board were there to answer any and all questions the students could throw their way.

It was quite a treat for the amateurs to fish aboard the professionals' boats, all big burly Lunds with massive Mercury outboards, armed to the teeth with multitudes of rod holders, electronics and other gizmos and gadgets that aid in the fish-catching process.

"It was a great experience. All three were just super nice guys, and the instruction was awesome," said Fowlerville's Jeff Donajkowski. "I learned a ton of stuff, plus I got to go on their boats and see what they do. This class was a great idea. I had never heard of anything like this."

Art Burke of Wayland called the class a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

"This was definitely a rewarding experience. It taught me a lot. It improved my skills to where I can improve my fishing," Burke said. "I learned a lot of different techniques, like lead core lines, planer boards, bottom bouncers, even tuning lures. They showed us how to adjust lures if they're not running true.

"I'm glad I did it, and I would recommend it."

The Grand River offered up a few walleyes Monday, and Spring Lake produced some 'eyes Tuesday. Wednesday, no walleyes were caught, although students did pull in a mixed bag of bass, catfish and sheepshead.

"We caught a 25 1/2-incher and a 24 1/2-incher trolling in the river," Martin said. "Over half the fish we caught trolling cranks. The rest were pitching jigs and vertical jigging and drifting and dragging, but a majority came trolling."

But catching fish was secondary this week as learning took center stage.

"It was teaching them how to fish rivers and lakes, and how to go into a store and know what you're going to buy, what they really need to catch fish," Martin said.

Martin chose the Grand River and Spring Lake as the site of his first-ever warm-water fishing clinic for several reasons.

"I grew up here, I know there are walleyes here, and I knew there were shallow fish. People don't believe they can catch walleyes in 3, 4, 5 feet of water," Martin said.

Martin hopes to make the Open Water Vacation School an annual event, especially after the positive experience of this week's venture. He was especially thankful for the outpouring of support the class received from area businesses.

"Marci (Cisneros) at the Grand Haven Chamber of Commerce was a huge help, and Days Inn had it set up so all our boats had power every night," Martin said. "They went over and above."

Now it's back to the Professional Walleye Trail for Martin, Gofron and Brumbaugh. All three are in the top 30 of the current 2008 Angler of the Year standings, with Brumbaugh leading the way in fifth place.

The next event is the Super Pro tournament in Dryden, Ontario, which will take place Aug. 13-15. The final two regional events take place in Sault Ste. Marie on Sept. 11-13 and Hudson, Wis., Oct. 16-18.